The present invention generally relates to apparatus for the intravenous infusion of medication in accordance with a predetermined medical therapy. Medication delivery pumps of the invention are useful for improving the ease of administration of a variety of therapeutic agents.
Intravenous medications including antibiotics and the like may be administered intermittently over a period of time. Each administration of an intravenous therapy generally follows a predefined procedure that often includes a series of manual steps. Such manual steps may include saline flushes and generally terminate with the application of anti-clotting medication. The manual steps in the therapy procedures are a principle source of error, infection, and other complications that may arise during intermittent infusion therapy.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for an apparatus for improving the administration of intermittent medication infusion therapy. The present invention satisfies this and other needs in the art.
The present invention overcomes many of the problems in the art by providing a medication delivery pump that is configured to administer an infusion therapy using a medication delivery container. Medications in a flexible bag of the container are expelled from the bag and delivered to an infusion site. The pump provides improved administration of infusion therapy which is particularly advantageous for reducing errors, infections and other complications associated with manual infusion techniques.
The invention may be embodied in a fluid delivery pump having a constant force spring and a mechanical timer. The constant force spring is configured to compress and roll up a flexible fluid container. The mechanical timer assembly is coupled to the constant force spring and limits the maximum rate at which the spring compresses the fluid container.
In a specific embodiment of the invention, the pump includes a constant force spring and first and second doors for charging the spring. Opening the first pump door charges the constant force spring to an approximately one-half charged position and opening the second pump door charges the constant force spring to a fully charged position.
The medication delivery pump automates a number of labor steps typically used to administer multiple intravenous solutions in the proper volumes and in the proper sequence with minimal user interaction. Further, in a preferred embodiment, the pump is a mechanical device which does not require electrical energy nor software to correctly implement an infusion therapy.